Teach me love
by Scarlette letters
Summary: Skilled shinobi are picked to travel to Suna and aid the Kage. Sparks fly as broken Hinata and healing Gaara relize that against all odds and their battered past, there is an attraction stronger than anything else between them.
1. Chapter 1

A young woman stirred restlessly in her haunted sleep. Terrified whispers and cries were emitted from her delicate lips. Her lily pale skin glistened with the sweat of nightmares. Every twist, turn and arch of her petit body told more and more of the object of her frantic escape. Her heart hammered so loudly in her chest one would be fearful that it would have leapt from the cage that keeps it in place. With one name on her lips and one image tattooed in her mind, she woke with a start. Her eyes snapped open revealing the pale pupil less eyes the legendary clan, Hyuga was known for. She gasped for the breath she was deprived of in the dream and wearily looked around the large familiar room. Her drowsiness escaped her quickly as she sat up cautiously. The memory of her dreaming fresh in her mind, and the face of her pursuer clear as if it had been branded there.

Her mouth opened, but no words came out. Recognition clear on her face. Again she attempted to speak. Her soft, chiming voice made the most gruesome of words become an airy melody. Through the wonder and the fright, she said "Gaara."

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Hinata sat for several minutes with her dream the occupant of her attention. Her slim arm wrapped around her chest. Her eyes scanned unseeingly around her room. She was finally brought to awareness as the temperature in her room dropped several degrees. Her opal eyes went to the large open window where a few snowflakes drifted lazily in. A window, which was closed. Emotions ran wild through her, from shock to glee to an awareness only a shinobi can possess. Hinata leapt skillfully up from her place to the window, kunai already in hand. The frosty wind blew the delicate snowflakes onto her inky silk hair. She looked into the starless night.

"I should have known if someone entered my room." She scolded herself.

The pale maiden looked around waiting anxiously for her eyes to become accustom to the darkness. She stood motionless by the window, her muscles tense with anticipation of attack. She became aware of a minute sound that if she was not a trained shinobi she would have missed. The sound came at regular intervals, the pace of which was increasing. Like foots steps. What ever had invaded Hinata's room was approaching her quickly. The being quickened its pace and then abruptly stopped. Hinata raised her eyebrow and coiled into and attack stance. Then with out warning a small ball of white torpedoed through the darkness toward her. The thing landed on her torso lightly, clinging to her shirt. She faltered at impact for it was not what she expected. She dropped the kunai and held the creature gently and pulled it off of her. The thing was warm and furry and made a noise Hinata did not expect. It purred. Hinata laughed delightedly, like a child. She wrapped her arms around the small kitten and stroked it.

"Now how did you get in here little one?" she cooed to the animal "You're so adorable. You came in light as the snow didn't you?" she giggled softly. She set the kitten on the floor.

"Come on kitty cat. I'll get you some tuna. Kitties like tuna right?"

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Hinata rested Tora on the bed and rubbed between her ears. She drifted quietly across the white tile to the window and opened it wide. Snow flakes flew wildly around her and the bright moon light lit her creamy skin with a radiant glow that made her look like an angel. Tora looked on with curious eyes. She deeply inhaled the winter air and exhaled loudly. She rose from the cushioned window seat and moved towards her bed. She stripped the bed of the still sweat dampened sheets and piled them on the floor. Hinata glided ever gracefully to her personal bathroom.

"I'm just going to have a shower, Tora-chan. D-Don't scratch anything." She whispered before shutting the door. Hinata retrieved a towel from the cabinet and turned on the water. She looked at herself in the mirror. Looking back at her was a beautiful woman she knew so well it hurt. Her eyes were her mother, her rosebud lips were her mother's; she was a split image of her mother. Hinata's vision became blurred and her opal eyes were rimmed with crystal like tears. Hinata wiped the tears off her face as furiously as she tried to wipe the longing for her mother from her mind. All too suddenly the angel disappeared, leaving a distraught little girl in her place. Her skin looked too pale to be human, glistened with ill moisture and her eyes looked drawn and distant with sadness.

Hinata stepped into the shower; the warm water ran on her back. Her mood rose with the comforting heat. Hinata hummed quietly to herself. She reached for her shampoo.

"Oh, empty, oh no." she muttered. She turned off the shower and left the bathroom in her towel.

"I-it's just a quick dash from here to Neji-san's room." She looked down the dark hall and crept out her room. She entered her cousin's room. A welcoming smell filled her nostrils. She love the way her cousin smelled. It was like the whole forest on one person. Was it even normal to smell like the fresh rain and then sweet forest herbs all at once?

Hinata trekked through her cousin's room trying to touch as little as possible. This proved to be difficult as the floor was strewn with papers, scrolls and such like. It seemed to take hours to reach his bathroom but Hinata actually reached it in quick secession. Neji's bathroom was as beautiful and natural as Neji himself. It smelt of him and more. The more being Hinata's Herbal Essence shampoo he had stocked up in his room. Hinata giggled a little as she pictured her manly cousin washing his long luxurious hair with the feminine smelling shampoo. She picked out her favorite, uncovered it and took a deep breath, inhaling the rosy aroma that matched the scent of her hair.

"You really shouldn't be sneaking around people's rooms at 3:20 in the morning Hina-chan." A deep soft voice whispered into Hinata's ear. Hinata spun around and stared at her half naked older cousin. Neji's wet hair was plastered to his body and his head bent close to her face. Hinata could make out every single long dark eye lash that surrounded his beautifully haunting eyes. His slender arm against the wall behind Hinata, his skin tanned against her snowy one.

"I-I'm s-sorry Neji-san. M-my shampoo ran out a-and a-and I thought that since you have the same as me i-it would be a-alright. I-I'm re-" Hinata dropped her gaze to the ground as the blood rose up to her face in embarrassment.

"Hinata, hush," Neji cut her off "Just stop. Take the bloody thing, I don't care. When will you learn Hina-chan? Relax alright? I don't bite." He ruffled her indigo hair with one large hand. He moved out of her way and she shuffled clumsily through the clutter in his room. Hinata opened the door to leave.

"Oh yeah…Hina- chan … Hyuga-san…I really hate the stuttering you know." Neji said as Hinata moved though the door. Hinata paused and looked back.

"…I-I know. Naruto did too." She said quietly and closed the door behind her.

A.N. Tora be the name of th kitten. And just to clarify things Neji is not coming onto Hinata. Gaara would beat him if he did .))

dont forget to check the next chapter

peace and love

Scarlette


	2. Chapter 2

Hinata hastily pulled her mesh under shirt on and looked nervously around the room. The temperature in her room had rose she had left the bath. Tora was curled up comfortably on the new white sheets on Hinata's bed, looking at her new "mommy" with her big icy blue eyes.

"N-Neji-san must have t-turned on the heater." She smiled. Hinata put on her black leggings and close toe sandals and opened her window. She looked across the breath taking white grounds of the Hyuga main mansion. In the full moonlight made the snow look like a field of glittery crystals, untouched by the man made world. Then the strangest impulse hit Hinata. An urging that was unfamiliar to her. She thoughtlessly climbed onto the window sill and jumped out of the warmth of her room into the frigid landscape before her. She landed softly from her third floor bed room on the snow. She ran swiftly across the gardens and catapulted over the border gate. She looked across the road into a wood that she knew well. She walked slowly towards the wood; mind set on reaching her private retreat there. She picked up pace as she reached the wood. She could feel the urge pulling her closer and closer. She sprung in to the trees and travelled from branch to branch. Through the trees she could see the faint glow of what she was seeking. She jumped out of the trees, into a clearing. Hinata was captured by the mystifying lake before her. Of the many times that she had been there the beauty of the lake, so pure and clean, still took her breath away. She walked slowly towards the lake removing her cloths in the process. The moon reflected perfectly in the glassy water. She stepped slowly into the water, which engulfed her naked body with barely a ripple. The water, untouched by the winter weather, was warm and had a comforting effect on her. Her long indigo floated behind her. She smiled and welcomed the warming feeling the water gave her. Hinata felt so safe and home in the lake it seemed to wash way all the bad memories and negative thoughts that plagued her mind. She allowed chakra to move to her feet. Standing on water would have once been a surreal experience but now normality. Not only standing but dancing; moving fluid on the water's surface was second nature.

And her dance began. She moved, glided gracefully on the surface. Her dance made the most elegant of swans look like dying hens. Her dance was, so graceful, so beautiful, so natural and breath taking. She continued flawlessly. She smiled radiantly and the lake seemed to shin brighter to compliment her angelic face. Her chakra enlaced the water, making it dance around her in sync with her movements. Then, somewhere in the darkness to the left of Hinata, there was a noise. It was the sound of someone shifting their weight in the trees. Some one watching her.

Hinata plunged into the water. The magical and beauty, gone. She looked up form under the water. The moon looking like silvery ripples. She swam upward until her head broke the surface of the water. She looked around surveying the woods. She felt the urge to kick herself for leaving her weapons attached to her pants leg. She looked around again. Swallowing the fear she had first felt. Darkness, no movement. Everything looked completely normal. She exhaled loudly, choosing not activate her Byakugan. She cautiously walked out the water. Who or whatever was here was gone. She gathered her clothes in her arms. The sandals fell to the ground as she stood up. She sighed and stared at the shoe with loath. She bent over the pick up the sandal. Sudden, Hinata felt it. Hinata felt a spike of chakra. Chakra that was defiantly not her own.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Hinata jumped back with acute precision, her dark hair flying. She automatically threw a kunai up into the tree where she had felt this spike. She eyes darted up into the tree to her target. What she saw there knocked the air out of her lungs, frozen her body in blind fear. Above her, staring down with chilling turquoise eyes was the man from her nightmares, her one persistent fear. Gaara of the sand.

Hinata gasped and her mouth hung open.

"No way this is real, now way, now way." She thought franticly to herself. She blinked hard hoping the terrifying vision would disappear. She hoped and hoped and hoped that he was gone. Her eyes fluttered open. The red hair man was still there. Hinata had faced death and disease; destruction and emotional turmoil, but nothing had ever shaken her more than coming face to face with the man from every one of her nightmares.

Gaara stared at her with out any movement. Hinata felt as if she was going to cry. Fear had wiped all sense from her. Again she blinked. He was gone. She stood locked in place. The tension of the few seconds of her encounter seemed like hours. She finally slowly sank to he knees. The woods no longer had the calming effect it had when she arrived. It held an eerie atmosphere the chilled her to her bones. She became vaguely aware that it was probably the fact that she was naked. She jumped up, wide eyed and scrambled into her clothing. She sat on the ground, stunned.

"Oh, m-my g-gosh." She ran her hand through her damp hair.

"Did I-I just see G-Gaara, f-for real?" she muttered to herself as she got up. Sighing, she turned to leave and was grabbed at the shoulders by two strong male hands. Hinata screamed.

In the heart of the village

Tsunade slouched at her desk swamped by tons of paperwork. She scribble untidily on a document and paused. Her head nodded forward with fatigue and she started snoring lightly.

"…Excuse me," a deep voice called from the front of her desk. Tsunade woke with a snort.

"Hey wise ass," she started groggily, "What the hell do you think you doing in my office this time of morn…" she trailed off as she looked up into the face of the handsome man in front of her. She smiled up at him with a plastic smile.

"Why, my lord, what brings you took this fine village?" she asked sweetly.

"Let us not waste time with false pleasantries Tsunade," he said bluntly, wiping the smile off her face.

I need some of your best shinobi to come to Suna with in two days to assist the training of young ninja from my village."

Tsunade grinned again and picked up and every present glass of sake.

"Does Konaha get something out of this?" she asked with a smirk.

The man sighed and pressed his eyebrows together.

"You realize I am not an idiot?" He got up from the seat he had taken in front her desk and paced, "of course you're getting something out of this. Why what better was to train you shinobi than to have them teach themselves?"

Tsunade look over him with raised eyebrows.

"I'm not buying it but what ever it takes to get Naruto out of my hair. Alright deal kiddo." She stuck out her hand, the effects of the sake obviously now beginning to kick in.

Her visitor rolled his eyes and shook her hand disdainfully.

"Alright," Tsunade said with renewed energy,

"Well here is what I've got for you right now, the best new jonin I have. All pretty young, around your age I think." She laid several folders on the table. The man took them up and looked through them quickly, lingering on one.

"The Hyuga?" he questioned, pointing to the small picture of a beautiful indigo haired girl.

"Well, ya!" Tsunade rolled her eyes, "She is one of my best healers, taught herself she did, the talented." She laughed loudly. The man's eye twitched, visibly turned off by the Hokage's behavior.

"Well thank you, I will be expecting them in 2 days." He bowed and made his way to the door.

"Hell I could get them to you tomorrow, I swear!" Tsunade yelled

"…I'll keep you to that." He replied and disappeared out the door.

"Buh bye Gaara," Tsunade giggled and finally succumbed to the alcohol.

The Lake

Hinata pushed her capturer franticly and drew back her arm to attack. She pushed forward her chakra encased palm to the person's chest. One hit would kill him.

"Oh God Hinata, what the hell are you doing?" Neji caught her by the wrist before she could hit him.

"N-Neji?" Hinata stared up into her cousin's face. "Oh! I-I'm so s-sorry. I-I thought y-you were s-someone else." She pulled her wrist out of his grip.

"Hinata, what the hell are you doing out here, what demented you to leave the house at these kind of hours?" Neji yelled clearly absolutely pissed off at his younger cousin.

"I-I am s-sor-,"

"Oh trust me Hinata, you're not sorry yet. I will have to tell your father" Neji raged. Hinata's face drained of the little colour that was originally there.

"N-No! P-Please Neji-san. I'm so s-sorry. It will n-not happen again." Hinata's eyes brimmed with tears. Neji looked at her, anger still burning in his eyes. He sighed and smiled in resignation, his eyes softened as he wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Hina-chan, relax I'm not a rat," he embraced the weeping girl in his strong arms, "But do it again and I swear I'm going to pop a vein." He teased while rubbing the small of her back. Hinata started giggling into his white shirt. He laughed also and released her. Then something she had said before struck him.

"Who exactly did you think I was?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

"W-What?" Hinata looked at him wide eyed.

"You said you thought I was someone else, who was it?"

Hinata looked at her cousin hesitantly.

"…Um…no one." Her gaze dropped.

"Are you certain?" Neji studied her face.

"Y-yep you just surprised me." Hinata looked up with a smile. "What time is it?"

"Well when I came after you it was 7:40 took me 30 mins to get here and I just blew a couple more minutes lecturing you so I would say about 8:15." Neji quickly rattled off maths.

"Oh my g-goodness, H-Hinabi, father I-I didn't make anything and there b-both off by n-now! They m-must have starved!" Hinata exclaimed panic clear in her voice. "C-Come on, we have to g-go; m-maybe if w-we hurry I-I can g-get them s-something decent." Hinata grabbed Neji's arm and pulled him.

"Hina-chan don't worry I made them something." Neji flashed her an angelic smile.

"W-What!?" Hinata said with wide eyes. Neji frowned.

"All I did was give them some Anko, rice and tea, chill I didn't actually cook anything just warmed it up." Neji said slightly insulted at what she was implying.

"O-Oh, I-I'm sorry I-I d-didn't mean anything." Hinata sighed. Her stomach made a funny noise, rumbling and squelching. Neji laughed and revealed a package from behind his back. Hinata sat on the ground again and ripped open the paper. Food! Oh she was famished; rice and tea never looked so good!

Hinata plopped to the ground and crossed her legs. She pulled out the rice and devoured it in a matter of seconds and drained the tea. Neji sat next her smiling. Hinata looked at him with question in her eyes since her mouth was already full.

"Adorable." He laughed and handed her another bowl.

"More rice?" Hinata attempted to say only it came out as "Mo wi?" Neji laughed even louder at Hinata. Her cheeks lit up a fantastic red as she sheepishly uncovered the bowl. Finally clearing her mouth Hinata cried "Anko!" and stuffed the sweet bean paste in her mouth. Neji just stared in amazement as the tiny girl gaffed down the food. Hinata washed it back with the tea and laid back and gazed at the sky which was now a brilliant light but covered with gray clouds.

"I-I guess w-we have go t-train now." Hinata sighed, sitting up."

"Nope," Neji, who was now lying on his back grabbed Hinata and pulled her down so her head was on his chest.

"B-But father will be u-upset." She replied, unwilling to leave his warm chest.

"Today we're going to hang out, relax."

Hinata shot up at what Neji said and looked at him like he grew another head.

"W-What? N-Neji-san are you alright?" Hinata asked particularly concerned.

"Of course I alright, any how I've arranged to meet the guys on the hill soon so let's go." Neji got to his feet and offered his hand to Hinata. Hinata got up with Neji's assistance and looked down at her clothes, a mesh shirt, leggings and sandals was really not suitable for the weather.

"Oh yeah forget about that." Neji produced her lilac jacket and black pants from in his white jacket.

"T-Thanks." Hinata took the clothes and slip them on over her under clothing, not even bothering to ask why Neji was in her stuff in the first place.

"Ok, let's go." Neji said as he leapt in a tree, Hinata right behind him and took off towards the rendezvous point for their friends.

Hokage Hill

Naruto stared at the sky in day dream with Ino at his side braiding winter flowers in to her blonde mane. He could vaguely hear Kiba, Shino and Shikamaru goofing off somewhere behind him. He sat up at looked behind him at his friends. Shikamaru was actually running behind Kiba with snowballs in hand and Ten Ten, who he hadn't noticed before was throwing at them with scary accuracy while Shino carefully sculpted the balls.

"Hey save some that for me, guys!" Naruto jogged up to Ten Ten and Shino with a big grin gracing his foxy face.

"So where do you want me?" he asked like they had called him. The two other shinobi exchanged glances and grinned at Naruto mischievously.

"Why do I get the feeling this isn't going to be good?" Naruto said to himself just as an on slot of snowballs were thrown at him. He collapsed on to the snow laughing loudly. He saw a shadow fall on to him and look over to the person casting it. Neji. Had his hair gotten longer? Man what's up with that? He has woman hair. These thoughts rushed through Naruto's mind before he saw Hinata. Her dark hair was well past her waist and what a defined waist she had. If Naruto was a pervert he would have peeped on her. But he wasn't. So he wouldn't. Or so he says. Hinata's eyes were surrounded with long dark lashed that made her eyes stand out and her normally pale cheeks were flushed a little pink from the cold. Hinata caught Naruto staring and wave meekly. Naruto waved back dumbfounded. Hinata's gaze drifted away from Naruto and went to her friends. Her face broke out with a radiant smile and she ran some where behind Naruto. He sat idiotically in the snow for a while before he realized he was the only ass not having fun in the winter wonderland around them. He jumped up and ran to join the fun and laughs.

After a while the eight teens collapsed into a giggling heap on the ground. Head to head, they shared each other's warmth as they chatted excitedly. Suddenly they hear a girl shouting. Not in fright or horror but excitement. The cries were from someone familiar. They each sat up to see a pink haired girl run up the hill towards them. Sakura, of course. Naruto waved to her as she came closer. She slowed to a stop and dropped to her knees in front of them. Breathing heavily and smiling ear to ear, Sakura tried to speak but wasn't able because of the cold and fatigue. After a few seconds she blurted out in a loud, bubbly voice,

"We've got a mission. An A rank mission!"


End file.
